Jessica Andrews - Ain't That Life (2005)

Jessica Danielle Andrews Chagnon was born on 29 December 1983 in Huntingdon, Tennessee, and discovered her passion for singing in the fourth grade. She planned on dancing in her school's talent show, but her sister convinced her to sing Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' instead, and a tape found its way to producer Byron Gallimore, who signed her to DreamWorks Records Nashville. At the age of 15, she released her debut album, 'Heart Shaped World', using 12 of the 50-plus songs that Gallimore had her record, and its debut single was 'I Will Be There For You', reaching No. 28 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1999. In April 2000 she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry, and by the end of the year she'd had two more Top 40 country singles in 'You Go First (Do You Wanna Kiss)' and 'Unbreakable Heart', although the fourth single, 'I Do Now', didn't fare as well. The album itself peaked at No. 24 on the Top Country Albums charts, and at the 2000 Academy of Country Music awards she won the award for Top New Female Vocalist. Her second album 'Who Am I' came out in 2001, and was described by a then 17-year old Andrews as a more mature effort than 'Heart Shaped World', because it focused more on the emotions that come with growing up. The lead single was the title track, and it became her only Number One (and only Top Ten) hit on the country music charts. The success of 'Who I Am' also earned her a nomination for the Horizon award at the 2001 Country Music Association awards, while the album itself received RIAA gold certification for sales of 500,000 copies only four weeks after its release. Her third studio album was released in 2003, and 'Now' featured more of an emphasis on ballads than her first two records. In late 2004 Andrews charted with a duet with Bret Michaels of the rock band Poison, entitled 'All I Ever Needed', for his solo album 'Freedom Of Sound', with the song being Michaels' only country hit. Shortly afterwards Andrews began work on her fourth studio album, tentatively titled 'Ain't That Life', and two taster singles were released, although 'The Marrying Kind' failed to chart, while 'Summer Girl' peaked at No. 46 in mid-2005. The album was all set to go when DreamWorks' recording division was dissolved, and all the albums in their pipeline were cancelled. In October 2008 she signed with Lyric Street Records' subsidiary imprint, Carolwood Records, and released the single 'Everything', which went to No. 45 in early 2009, but once again her album was pushed back and then cancelled when Carolwood Records closed, and she was the only artist not to be transferred to its parent label, Lyric Street. In November 2010 Geffen Records released a greatest hits album titled 'Icon', but that's the last that we've heard from Jessica Andrews, and so as it's bad enough having one album cancelled, let alone two, here is what would have been her fourth studio album 'Ain't That Life'.

Track listing

01 Ain't That Life
02 Ain't That Something
03 Bad Girl Blues
04 Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You
05 Forever To Go
06 I Need A Man
07 I'm Going Back
08 The Marrying Kind
09 Me
10 Poison's In The Sugar
11 Sing This City Home
12 Straight To The Bone
13 Summer Girl
14 Walking Out The Door
15 When We Get There
16 That's Who I Was

The Neptunes - My Drive Thru (2011)

In 2005 Star Trak signed rapper Slim Thug and released his debut album, 'Already Platinum', with singles from it giving Star Trak Entertainment yet more hits with 'Like A Boss' and 'I Ain't Heard Of That'. After the release of Slim Thug's album, Geffen Records was partially absorbed into Interscope, which moved Star Trak into an exclusive distribution deal with Interscope, which ended all business with Geffen, although they did still manage to add Kenna and Robin Thicke to their roster. In 2006 Pharrell Williams released his debut solo album, 'In My Mind', which provided another two hits for the label, 'Can I Have It Like That' with Gwen Stefani, and 'Number One' with Kanye West, and it capitalized on what had become 'the Neptunes sound'. Other releases in 2006 were Robin Thicke's second album, 'The Evolution Of Robin Thicke', and Clipse's second album, 'Hell Hath No Fury', featuring the hit single 'Mr. Me Too'.  This was their first release through their Re-Up Gang Records imprint, but because of constant delays on the album's release date, then low record sales, Clipse asked for a release from the Jive Records label, which in turn released them from Star Trak Entertainment, moving their Re-Up Gang Records imprint to Columbia Records. Further signings to Star Trak included Teyana Taylor, Chester French, Natasha Ramos, Epoch When and Sergio Veneno, and in 2007, Kenna released his album, 'Make Sure They See My Face', on Interscope, with production from the Neptunes. In this final compilation of rare and unreleased productions from the duo, we have a dozen tracks from 2007 to 2011, following the signing of that group of artists, some of whom then recorded music which was never destined for commercial release. I was quite pleased with the cover when I found that there really was a drive thru called Neptune Submarine Sandwiches. 

Track listing

01 Heart Beat (Pharrell Williams feat. Nicole Scherzinger)
02 My Drive Thru (N.E.R.D. feat. Julian Casablancas & Santigold)
03 Gone Away (Joe & Pharrell Williams)
04 Get Down (Rick Ross feat. Pharrell Williams)
05 Let Loose (N.E.R.D.)
06 Not My Fault (Chris Brown)
07 Devastation (Omarion)
08 BabyGirl (R. Kelly) 
09 My Ex Girlfriend (Bobby Valentino feat. Pharrell)
10 Soldier (N.E.R.D. feat. Santigold, Fam-Lay & Lil' Wayne)
11 Bridges (Cee Lo Green) 
12 Lazer-Gun Carryin' (N.E.R.D.)

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Burt Bacharach (1971)

In 1956 Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were both working in the Brill Building in New York City for Famous Music, which is where they published their first songs as co-writers. The songs published in 1956 included 'I Cry More' (featured in the motion picture 'Don't Knock The Rock'), 'The Morning Mail', and 'Peggy's In The Pantry', but their career breakthrough came when their song 'The Story Of My Life' was recorded by Marty Robbins, becoming a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Country Chart in 1957. Soon afterward, 'Magic Moments' was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and reached No. 4 on the Most Played by Disc Jockeys chart, and these two songs were the beginning of a career in which they composed over 230 songs together for the pop market, motion pictures, television, and Broadway. In 1961 Bacharach discovered singer Dionne Warwick, who was working as a session backup singer at the time, and that year the two, along with Dionne's sister Dee Dee Warwick, released the single 'Move It On The Backbeat' under the name Burt and the Backbeats - the first time a record appeared under his name. Bacharach and David were both excited by Warwick's singing and decided to form a production company, Blue JAC Productions, so they could write for her and produce her recordings, and she signed with the new company, and the team subsequently secured a recording contract with Scepter Records for Warwick's recordings. Warwick made her solo recording debut in 1962 with 'Don't Make Me Over', which also became her first hit, and their partnership with Warwick became one of the most successful teams in popular music history. Bacharach released his first solo album in 1965 on the Kapp Records label, but 'Hit Maker!: Burt Bacharach Plays the Burt Bacharach Hits' was largely ignored in the U.S., although it rose to No. 3 on the UK album charts, where his version of 'Trains And Boats And Planes' had become a top five single. In 1967, he signed with A&M Records both as an artist and a producer, recording several solo albums, consisting of a mix of new material plus rearrangements of his best-known songs. In 1969 Bacharach released his second A&M album, 'Make It Easy On Yourself', which like its predecessor, featured outstanding song-writing. One of the highlights of the record was the great production between Bacharach and Phil Ramone, as well as the instrumental performances, and even songs that weren't immediately pleasing to the ear grew on the listener. 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again', 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose?' and the title track were all reclaimed and reworked for the record, and by the end of the year of it's release nearly all of the rest of the tracks had been picked up and recorded by other artists for their own records. So here are their takes on the songs from Bacharach's 'Make It Easy On Yourself' album, together with a few tracks from his 1971 eponymous release to make up the running time, and I've gone for less well-known versions of the biggest hits to give it a bit of variety.     

Track listing

01 Promises, Promises (Connie Francis 1968)  
02 I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Bobbie Gentry 1969)  
03 Knowing When To Leave (Kathy Kirby 1969)  
04 Any Day Now (Elvis Presley 1969)
05 Wanting Things (Dionne Warwick 1968)
06 Whoever You Are I Love You (Johnny Mathis 1969)
07 Make It Easy On Yourself (Long John Baldry 1966)
08 Do You Know The Way To San Jose (Rita Reys 1971)

09 Pacific Coast Highway (Jim Wilkas 2023)
10 This Guy's In Love With You (Georgie Fame 1969)
11 All Kinds Of People (The 5th Dimension 1971)
12 One Less Bell To Answer (Gladys Knight And The Pips 1971)

Allie X - CollXtion VI (2016)

The fourth collection of superb unreleased tracks from Allie X also comes from 2016, and they form the final volume in my addition to her CollXtion series.  

Track listing

01 Make Me Go (Da Da Da)

02 Savior

03 All I Want Is To Be With You

04 High Horse

05 Offering

06 Purge

07 Blindspot

08 Let It Die

09 Portal

10 Ugly

11 Happy Tears

12 Lifeline

13 Petals

14 Work Us Out

15 A Night Like This

16 For Real

17 Permanent Marker

18 Better

19 I Don't Wanna Fall In Love

Billy Joel - All My Life (2014) **UPDATE**

It was mentioned in a comment from Michael P. that there was another track that I could have included here, which was the extended single version of 'Sometimes A Fantasy' from 1980, which not only included a 'Helter Skelter' reference for those in the know, but also has different panning on the guitars, so I've decided to update the post. 

For a man who has only released twelve studio albums spanning 1971-1993, Billy Joel has a large number of rare and alternate tracks out there, from edited promo singles to extended 12"s, duets to rare cover versions. This set gathers together fourteen of the best of them, starting with the edited promo 7" of his 'Piano Man' single from 1973, which might sound odd to fans of the longer version, but the label obviously didn't feel that radio stations wouldn't play a four and a half minute song back then. We then jump forward to 1982 for a rare non-album b-side, followed by extended versions of a couple of his singles, and an alternate take of a collaboration with Steve Winwood. 1993 sees another rare b-side and the original extended version of the title track from his 'River Of Dreams' album, and from the mid 2000's he was duetting with a number of other artists, such as Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand, Jimmy Webb, Rosie O'Donnell, and Johnny Mathis. In 2007 he released the 'All My Life' single only in Australia, and we end with a couple of covers of Paul McCartney songs, recorded for the 'Art Of McCartney' tribute album in 2014. Hopefully even the most ardent Joel fan should find something of interest here that they might not have heard before. 

Track listing

01 Piano Man (edited promo single 1973) 

02 Sometimes A Fantasy (single edit 1980)
03 Elvis Presley Blvd. (b-side of 'Allentown' 1982)
04 Tell Her About It (extended version 1983) 
05 Keeping The Faith (special extended mix 1983) 
06 Getting Closer (alternate version with Steve Winwood 1986)
07 You Picked A Real Bad Time (b-side of 'All About Soul' 1993) 
08 The River Of Dreams (original extended version 1993) 
09 The Good Life (duet with Tony Bennett 2006)
10 All My Life (single 2007)
11 Wichita Lineman (duet with Jimmy Webb 2010)
12 New York State Of Mind (duet with Barbara Streisand 2014)
13 Maybe I'm Amazed (from 'The Art Of McCartney' tribute album 2014) 
14 Live And Let Die (from 'The Art Of McCartney' tribute album 2014)

Vinnie Vincent - Guitars From Hell (1991)

Vincent John Cusano, better known by his stage name Vinnie Vincent, was born on 6 August 1952, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he picked up the guitar at an early age, being inspired by bluegrass and rock and roll. In 1980 he moved to Los Angeles, California where he became a staff songwriter for the television series 'Happy Days' and 'Joanie Loves Chachi', with many of the series songs being written on his acoustic guitar while sitting at the Cunninghams' kitchen table on the 'Happy Days' set. After being introduced to the band KISS by songwriter Adam Mitchell, Vincent was brought in as the replacement for guitarist Ace Frehley when he left the group, as his personality meshed well with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, thus enabling him to play lead guitar on six of the nine tracks on the 'Creatures Of The Night' album, as well as co-writing three. After a commercially disappointing Tenth Anniversary tour, that finished on a high at what ended up being the last "makeup" show in Brasil, Vincent returned to the studio with KISS to record the 'Lick It Up' album. His work was productive, yielding eight co-writes out of the ten songs on the album, but although he performed well live with KISS, he refused to sign an employment contract, which strained the relationship with Simmons/Stanley. This arose because of disputes over his role in the band and pay, and so consequently Vincent never formally became a member of the band. This ultimately led to him leaving after the North American leg of the 'Lick It Up' tour, where he was replaced by Mark St. John. Despite parting on bad terms, Vincent was later used by KISS as a songwriter on the 1992 album 'Revenge', but he soon fell out of favour with Simmons and Stanley, as they claimed that he again began pulling the same kind of crazy stuff that led to him leaving the band in the first place. After he left KISS, Vincent formed the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and released a self-titled solo album in 1986 with Robert Fleischman on vocals, then followed it up in 1988 with 'All Systems Go', featuring Mark Slaughter on vocals and Dana Strum on bass. Demos for a third album were recorded, but this was never released due to the Enigma record label going bankrupt, but the eleven tracks saw Robert Fleischman return to the band in place of Mark Slaughter, who had gone on to form his own band Slaughter, taking bassist Dana Strum with him, and they were joined by Chris Lee on bass and Andre Labelle on drums. The album was originally to be titled 'Revenge', but Gene Simmons like the title and convinced Vincent to let him have it for the next KISS album, so it was renamed as 'Guitars From Hell', and with nine of the tracks having since surfaced, that's just enough for a storming 43-minute glam-metal shred-fest.  

Track listing

01 Rocks On Fire 
02 Nuke It
03 Shocker 
04 Invincible
05 Truth
06 Full Shredd 
07 Wild Child
08 Youngblood
09 Genesis

Mars Argo - 2012 (2012)

Brittany Alexandria Sheets was born on 20 April 1988 in Saginaw, Michigan, and is an American singer, songwriter and internet personality, best known by her stage name Mars Argo. After meeting Corey Michael Mixter (a.k.a. Titanic Sinclair) on Myspace, they worked together on the YouTube channels digitalfuntown and grocerybagdottv, and later formed the alternative pop band Mars Argo. The band released their debut album, 'Technology Is A Dead Bird', on 6 November 2009, and this was followed by an acoustic EP, 'Internet Sessions', in 2010, and a second EP, 'Linden Place', in 2011. They began working on a second album with Chicago-based producer, Johnny K, soon after 'Technology Is A Dead Bird' was released, but once a number of tracks had been laid down, the duo put their album on hold and moved to Los Angeles in 2012, where they filmed and released the remainder of the YouTube channel's uploads. More songs were later recorded for the album, but the release was pushed back from 2012 to 2013, and then in 2014 the couple separated, although they continued to work together as a band, performing during the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. After a brief hiatus, and revival in December of the same year, they split up permanently in March 2015 without ever finalising their second album. On 17 April 2018 Sheets filed a 44-page lawsuit against Mixter and his new collaborator Poppy (real name Moriah Rose Pereira), alleging copyright infringement, stalking, and emotional and physical abuse being inflicted upon her by the two, in particular accusing Poppy of stealing her look. The lawsuit was dismissed on 14 September, having been settled out of court with agreements that Mixter and Pereira would not be in contact with Sheets, and with Sheets gaining all rights, title and interest to the Mars Argo music and brand. Despite now owning the rights to the music of Mars Argo, the second studio album has never appeared, and so from the many tracks that they laid down between 2009 and 2014, we can pick the ones most likely to have been intended for the record and piece together what could have been the album tentatively titled '2012', and which would have appeared in that very year. 

Track listing

01 Runaway Runaway
02 Using You
03 Be Easy
04 Doctor (Instrumental)

05 Wet Cigarette
06 Open Up The Door In Your Head 
07 Beauty Is Empty 

08 Stuck on You 
09 Wasting Away 
10 Hear Me Out 
11 Me Today
12 Formal Girl
13 Suicide Birds
14 Love In Black And White

Supersister - Wow (1975)

Supersister was a Dutch progressive rock band formed in The Hague, Netherlands in 1968, from the ashes of The Bulbs, who consisted of Robert Jan Stips on keyboards and vocals, Sacha van Geest on flute, Marco Vrolijk on drums, Ron van Eck on bass, along with Rib Douw and Daniel Denis. The Bulbs were together for about three years from 1965, but when Douw and Denis both left in 1968, the remaining members renamed themselves Supersister and carried on as a quartet. They released their debut single 'She Was Naked' in 1970, and it became their biggest hit, reaching the Netherlands Top 40, and gaining them a record deal with Polydor Records that same year. Their debut album, 'Present From Nancy' appeared later in 1970, and the next two years saw the release of 'To The Highest Bidder' in 1971, and 'Pudding En Gisteren' in 1972. Following the release of that third album, van Geest and Vrolijik both left the group, replaced by Charly Mariano and Herman van Boeyen, respectively, and by 1973 they had started to incorporate more jazz fusion elements into their music, as evidenced by their fourth album 'Iskander'. After its release in 1973, Mariano was replaced by Elton Dean, while Stips left to play keyboard in another Dutch group, Golden Earring. The band decided to split up after the release of their fifth album, 'Spiral Staircase', in 1974, citing diminishing interest in the band's jazz fusion direction, and lacklustre commercial reception. A 2000 reunion included the classic line-up of Stips, van Geest, Vrolijik, and van Eck, and they played Progfest in Los Angeles, later releasing their first official studio album in 26 years, with 'Memories Are New'. One thing that is particularly noticeable about Supersister is that they have never taken themselves too seriously, and this can be heard by listening to the b-sides of some of their singles, such as the spoken word 'Spiral Staircase' and 'The Groupies Of The Band', or their Bonzo's-inspired Elvis take-off single 'Fancy Nancy'. However, they also produced some outstanding progressive rock, and it is for this that they will be most remembered, so enjoy this collection of hard to find singles and b-sides from their classic period of 1970-1975. 

Track listing

01 She Was Naked (single 1970)
02 Spiral Staircase (b-side of 'She Was Naked')
03 Fancy Nancy (single 1970)
04 Gonna Take Easy (b-side of 'Fancy Nancy')
05 Girl Named You (single edit 1971)    
06 Missing Link (b-side of 'Girl Named You')
07 No Tree Will Grow (On Too High A Mountain) (single edit 1971)  
08 The Groupies Of The Band (b-side of 'No Tree Will Grow (On Too High A Mountain)')
09 Dead Dog (b-side of 'Radio' 1972)
10 Wow (single 1973)
11 Drs. D. (b-side of 'Wow')
12 Memories Are New (b-side of 'Bagoas' 1973)
13 Coconut Woman (single as Sweet Okay Supersister 1975)
14 Here Comes The Doctor (b-side of 'Coconut Woman')

Lil' Kim - Notorious 2 (2000)

Kimberly Denise Jones was born on 11 July 1974, and is better known by her stage name Lil' Kim. In her teens, she would freestyle rap, influenced by fellow female hip-hop artists like MC Lyte and the Lady of Rage, and in 1994 she was discovered by fellow rapper The Notorious B.I.G., who invited her to join his group Junior M.A.F.I.A. Their debut album, 'Conspiracy', generated two top 20 singles in the United States and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After a year with Junior M.A.F.I.A., Lil' Kim began her solo career by making guest performances on R&B albums and recording her debut album, 'Hard Core', which was released in November 1996. The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, the highest debut for a female rap album at that time, and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. In 2001, Lil' Kim reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the single 'Lady Marmalade' (a remake of LaBelle's 1974 single), alongside Mýa, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, and the song also won her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. From 1998 to 2000, Lil' Kim continued working under the management of B.I.G.'s best friend, Damion "D-Roc" Butler's Roc Management, touring and modelling for various fashion and pop culture companies including Candie's, Versace, Iceberg, and Baby Phat. On 27 June 2000, she released her second album, 'The Notorious K.I.M.', and this marked a new image and revamped look for the rapper. Despite the limited success of its singles, the album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and was certified platinum four weeks after its release. In 2001 Lil' Kim reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the single 'Lady Marmalade' (a remake of LaBelle's 1974 single), alongside Mýa, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, and the song also won her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. While recording tracks for her second album, with production assistance from Timbaland & Stretch Armstrong, various issues caused it to be delayed from its original release date of August 1999, not least the leaking of eight of their tracks. Kim took the opportunity to scrap the pair's contributions and to retool the project by recording 11 fresh songs and dumping nearly all of the leaked content. With pretty much a full album of unreleased and alternate recordings out there, it's no surprise that they have been floating around for a while, and so here they all are collected together to form a sister album to 'The Notorious K.I.M.', from the same time period as the original release of early to mid-2000. 

Track listing

01 K.I.M. (Intro)  
02 Resurrection (All Hail the Queen) (feat. Diddy)
03 Nobody Do It Better than Us (feat. Diddy)
04 Diamonds (feat. Kelly Price)
05 Bad Girl (feat. RuPaul)
06 Revolution (demo feat. Grace Jones & Diddy)
07 Good Time (feat. Lil' Cease) 
08 Makes No Sense (feat. Tanya Stephens)
09 Rockin' It
10 Queen Bitch (Part 2) (feat. Jay Z & The Notorious B.I.G.)
11 Chinatown (feat. DJ Clue, Lil' Cease & Junior M.A.F.I.A.)

12 How Many Licks? (feat. Kelis, Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dogg & Lil' Cease)

Thunderbugs - Delicious (2000)

Thunderbugs were a British girl-pop band comprising Jane Vaughan on lead vocals, Stef Maillard on bass and backing vocals, Nicky Shaw on drums and backing vocals, and Brigitta Jansen on guitar, and in 1999 they were the latest project of Sony Music (through Epic), who were in the process of funnelling a shedload of cash into the band. This was the second all girl group who played their own instruments that they'd launched that year, and as Hepburn had had two top twenty hits under their belt, Sony were hoping for even greater success with Thunderbugs. Whilst Hepburn's slightly whiny and grungy music fitted well with the Buffy soundtrack it appeared on, in contrast Thunderbugs seemed to be a more traditional pop act, with the first single 'Friends Forever' being a happy, breezy affair. They were a multi-national collective, with a British lead singer and drummer, and a continental element in their French bass player and German guitarist, and after 18 months of pre-chart grooming by First Avenue Management they should have been a huge success. In August 1999 it was 'Thunderbugs Are Go!', as the costly TV advert said, to launch 'Friends Forever' and to preview the upcoming debut album 'Delicious'. It seemed to work, as 'Friends Forever' crashed into the UK top 5, but the follow-up was the slower, but still jaunty 'It's About Time You Were Mine', and while not as instant and powerful a tune as 'Friends Forever', it was a reasonable choice for the next single. In 1999 there had been a pop explosion, and by November Sony was pushing to release albums by A1, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Destiny’s Child, so Thunderbugs had to wait their turn, but before long it was Christmas with still no release date for their record. Normally this is a good time to release an album which could pick up sales as a present, which was what Sonly hoped would happen with 'It's About Time You Were Mine', but in 1999 there were so many singles on the schedules that Sony had to concentrate on new releases by acts like the Vengaboys, B*Witched, Queen & David Bowie, Tom Jones, Leann Rimes, TLC, The Beastie Boys, and The Charlatans, as well as big club hits by William Orbit and Progress, and so when the new Top 40 was announced, many singles that were expected to chart highly had disappointing sales, while the lesser known acts didn't show at all. Thunderbugs were one of these casualties, and despite having had all that money spent on them, Sony decided there was no point splashing out any more and they were consigned to the vaults. No further singles were released from the album, and 'Delicious' was only issued in the UK on the flop format of the decade, minidisc. As so often happens with these shelved or restricted release albums, the record itself is a perfectly fine collection of late 90's pop, and deserves to be heard even today, where I think it stands up pretty well.  

Track listing

01 It's About Time You Were Mine
02 Friends Forever
03 Walking On Air
04 You Got Something On Me
05 You And Me
06 Does Your Heart Still Break
07 Angel Of The Morning
08 Miracle Baby
09 Jealous
10 Delicious
11 Alright Now

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Neil Sedaka (1978)

When Neil Sedaka was 13, a neighbour heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist, and before long they were part of the Brill Building's legendary composing stable, writing songs together throughout much of their young lives. Before rock and roll became popular, Sedaka and Greenfield found inspiration from show tunes, and when Sedaka became a major teen pop star, the pair continued writing hits for him and numerous other artists. Unlike most of the other Brill Building songwriters, Sedaka was also releasing his own singles at the same time as writing for others, and finally hit the big time in 1959 when 'Oh, Carol' reached number 9 in the Hot Hundred in 1959, followed by his first number one with 'Breaking Up Is Hard To Do' in 1962. In 1964 Sedaka's career began a sharp decline, hastened by The Beatles' arrival on the radio and TV, along with the rest of the so-called British Invasion, and following the release of his 'My Yiddishe Momme' album in 1966 he didn't release another long-player for four years, although he was still writing through-out that period. Sedaka worked to revive his solo career in the early 1970's, and in 1971 he reunited with RCA and released the 'Emergence' album, which included the single 'I'm A Song (Sing Me)'. In 1972, he embarked on a successful British tour and was introduced by Harvey Lisberg to the four future members of 10cc, and he recorded his 'Solitaire' album with them as his backing band at their Strawberry Studios in Stockport, with the album being issued later that year by RCA. The title track was successfully covered by both Andy Williams and the Carpenters, while his own single 'Beautiful You' also charted briefly in America, and was his first US chart appearance in ten years. 'Solitaire' was the first collaboration between Sedaka and new song-writing partner Phil Cody, whom Sedaka felt was an ideal lyricist for his music in a singer-songwriter style, and this was proved to be true when by 1978 nearly every song on 'Solitaire' had been picked up and covered by other artists, the best of which are collected here, along with a few from 'Emergence' to make up the album to a satisfactory 42 minutes. 

Track listing

01 That's When The Music Takes Me (Helen McBennett 1978) 
02 Beautiful You (Colin Blunstone 1976)
03 Express Yourself (Adrienne Posta 1973)
04 Home (Vince Hill 1974)
05 Adventures Of A Boy Child Wonder (Ted Neeley 1973)
06 Dimbo Man (Blablus 1976)
07 Trying To Say Goodbye (Dana 1975)
08 Solitaire (The Carpenters 1975)
09 Don't Let It Mess Your Mind (Helen Reddy 1975)
10 Gone With The Morning (Suzanne 1973)
11 God Bless Joanna (Tony Christie 1972)
12 One More Mountain To Climb (David Soul 1976)
13 (I'm A Song) Sing Me, Sing Me (Lou Christie 1971)

Velvet Starlings - Sold Down The River (2020)

Velvet Starlings are an indie rock quartet from Los Angeles, California, who are deeply rooted in 1960's psych, beat and fuzz. They were formed by the then 18-year old Christian Gisborne, and the band has been praised for its ability to fuse 60's garage rock into a sound that is all their own, best described as beach-fuzz-psych with a big cheeky nod to the British Invasion. Their debut self-titled EP on Sound x 3 Records/Rock N Rolla Records was released in late 2018, in collaboration with producer/songwriter Roger Gisborne (leader of 90's Brit Rock band Plastiscene, and Christian's brother). It included the single 'Borrowed Time', which was a clear tribute to the sixties era, while second single, 'Sold Down The River', showcased Dylan-esque lyrics, soulful Hammond B3 organ, gritty guitars and raw blues inspired vocals. They followed this with another EP in 2019, with 'Love Everything, Love Everyone...' containing seven more superb 60's influenced tracks, which were this time produced by Christian Gisborne alongside his brother, and now bandmate, Roger in Los Angeles, with engineer/mixer Josiah Mazzaschi (Smashing Pumpkins, The Kills, Jesus & Mary Chain and Deap Valley). The music adopted a slightly heavier sound, mirroring the band's dynamic live performance, and 'Kids In Droves' was chosen as the lead single from the EP. In late 2020 they released a Christmas single, and the following year they finally issued their debut album, 'Technicolour Shake Down', to positive reviews. I've been a massive fan of the band since the first time I heard 'Sold Down The River', and remember being amazed that someone so young could produce a song so firmly rooted in an era that was over more than twenty year before he was even born. As an introduction to the band, here are their first two EP's, plus their Christmas single, compiled into an album that really deserves a hearing, and if you are as impressed by them as I was then check out their debut album proper on Bandcamp. 

Track listing

01 If Life Ain't Getting You High
02 Borrowed Time
03 Sold Down The River
04 I'll Be There
05 Coming Home
06 No Hard Feelings
07 It's Christmas Time Again
08 Bitter Pills
09 Kids In Droves
10 Rabbit In A Gun
11 Emerald Isle
12 Karmic Lemonade
13 No Soul To Save
14 Broken Soul (Reprise)

Allie X - CollXtion V (2016)

For the third collection of unreleased tracks from Allie X we move on to what I think is an outstanding collection of songs that were recorded in 2016, and which make up volume 5 in this extension of her CollXtion series.  

Track listing

01 Sculpture
02 Why You Wanna (O Chad)
03 Elijah
04 Aurora
05 Glam (Love Me Forever)
06 I Take Ut Back

07 MASTERpeace
08 I'm Not Gonna Tell My Boyfriend
09 Paradise
10 One Day And One Night
11 Tongue Tied
12 Could This Be Destiny
13 Chad Redux